Let me begin
with this disclaimer; I’m a huge Boston Red Sox fan and have been my entire
life, even following their Triple A farm team, the Pawtucket Red Sox, since I
was seven. (Sorry Rochester friends, when the PawSox come to town, they’re still
my team). My being a fan may have
something to do with my New England origins.
Or it may be due in part to the fact that when my dad’s brother was
dying from Leukemia in the 1950s, the great Ted Williams made regular trips to
Mass General just to visit him. Then
again there’s the iconic Citgo sign parked out beyond left centerfield which
has been a Boston landmark longer than I’ve been alive.
But as I
think about it, my love for the Sox is probably due more than anything else to
the great Fenway Park with its 37’ 2” high left field wall, affectionately
known as the “Green Monster”; the highest wall of any major league baseball
stadium; towering over left fielders since 1912.
So imagine
my surprise and subsequent outrage when in the 2002-03 off-season, the Green
Monster was renovated with the installation of 274 seats, with even more added
in 2005. I realize Fenway Park has one
of the smallest seating capacities and with players’ salaries skyrocketing, it
takes more fans to generate more revenue, but really guys, the Green
Monster? You had to desecrate the
holiest ground at Fenway Park by installing seats on her? Have you no decency? Is nothing sacred?
I wonder if
these were the questions on the minds and hearts of the Scribes and Pharisees in
Sunday morning’s gospel reading from Mark. Is nothing sacred? Jesus’ followers have not only been associating
with all kinds of unclean people, but they don’t even wash their hands before
eating as the religious tradition dictates.
How can they call themselves followers of God and not abide by God’s traditions? From the Pharisees’ perspective, Jesus’
followers are not simply neglecting God’s statutes, they are spitting on the
holiness of God. They are threatening
the very fabric of Israelite existence with their cavalier ways. So yeah, the good religious folks are a bit
upset. They’ve drawn their line in the
sand.
Before we
launch off on some tirade against the Pharisees and their apparent
close-mindedness, maybe we should look at the lines we draw in the sand. Make no mistake about it, when it comes to
life in the church, we all have them; we all have those lines you better not
cross.
What if we cut
the Congregation Council in half while at the same time eliminating Core Groups
and their subcommittees in favor of a more agile congregation? What if we were to move the altar table
around the sanctuary on a seasonal basis?
What if we removed all the pews in order to make our worship space more
flexible on Sunday, while creating a daily dining space for the homeless? Do you see where I’m going here? We all have buttons to be pushed. We all have traditions we are unable or
unwilling to forsake.
It’s taken
all these years for me to finally accept what the Red Sox owners did to my
beloved “Green Monster”. I see now that
their motives were not malevolent. As much as I may hate to admit it, they may
have had the well-being of both the team and the park in mind. And if I’m honest with myself, I have to
acknowledge that my precious Green Monster wasn’t always green.
Once again
this week, I’m not entirely sure where my sermon will end up on Sunday. But my guess is that it’s going to have
something to do with being open to the Spirit; being open to God working in new
ways; trusting that God’s not going to lead us into bad places.
Join me on
Sunday and let’s see where God takes us.
Peace and
Love,
Pastor Doug
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